Even with water in the house, they are not a necessity. A
water-back, fully as effectual as the range water-back, can be set in any
good stove, and connected with a boiler, large or small, according to the
size of the stove; and for such stove, if properly managed, only about
half the amount of coal will be needed.
Fix thoroughly in your minds the directions for making and keeping a fire;
for, by doing so, one of the heaviest expenses in housekeeping can be
lessened fully half.
First, then, remove the covers, and gather all ashes and cinders from the
inside top of the stove, into the grate. Now put on the covers; shut the
doors; close all the draughts, and dump the contents of the grate into the
pan below. In some stoves there is an under-grate, to which a handle is
attached; and, this grate being shaken, the ashes pass through to the
ash-pan, and the cinders remain in the grate. In that case, they can
simply be shoveled out into the extra coal-hod, all pieces of clinker
picked out, and a little water sprinkled on them. If all must be dumped
together, a regular ash-sifter will be required, placed over a barrel
which receives the ashes, while the cinders remain, and are to be treated
as described.
Into the grate put shavings or paper, or the fat pine known as lightwood.
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